The Fantasy Review‘s Spoiler-Free Review of Child’s Play 3 (1991).
Rating: 2/5
Child’s Play 3 (1991) was such a disappointment, especially after the back-to-back success of Child’s Play (1988) and Child’s Play 2 (1990). There is love for this movie in the fanbase, but for me it just didn’t work.
To start with the positives, the ending at the fairground is probably the best final setting of the franchise. It felt genuinely creepy and was the only part of this movie I found enjoyable. This is what makes it 2 instead of 1 stars.
The setting of the military school should have been awesome. It was a great premise, but as soon as Chucky gets introduced again, it all goes downhill. I’m going to write this in a vague way to avoid spoilers, but those who have seen it will know what I mean when I say that one of the rules of Chucky’s existence is changed a bit in this movie, making Andy no longer the main focus of Chucky’s motivation.
This is the beginning of the end for that tension between Andy and Chucky, which I think takes so much away from Child’s Play 3. After watching the rest of the movies in the franchise, I can see now that they wanted to move away from Andy being the only protagonist, and that makes sense, but it’s still a shame.
There is no reason why Chucky couldn’t have gone and focused his attention on other people without spoiling this bit of lore which holds the plots of the first two movies together.
Overall, I tend to skip this third movie if I’m rewatching the franchise. It doesn’t add anything; if anything, I think it takes some of the greatness away.
